Silverstone Among Others Thrown a Lifeline
Coronavirus has completely decimated many different sporting events and racing series. Although the NBA was successful though playing the playoffs in their ‘bubble’ many other sports have not been quite as lucky.
Although we can all gather around a TV to see a live motorsport event, the venues are suffering. We can see see the event from a distance – thus supporting the motorsport organization – but the venues are left high and dry with no one attending the event live in person. No ticket sales mean no extra funding.
The English government has taken note of this, and as a result, has decided to inject 6 million pounds into English motorsport venues as a part of their £300 million ‘Sports Winter Survival Package’. Goodwood and Silverstone are some of the most iconic circuits on earth, so it would be a shame for them to die out due to the virus’ impact.
Silverstone’s Managing Director, Stuart Pringle, said: “The cancellation of MotoGP and the fact we were left with no option but to run all other events behind closed doors this season has resulted in an 80% drop in revenue for Silverstone in 2020 so this news is extremely welcome.”
Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport (What a title… Let’s pretend his acronym is SSDCMS) chimed in on the project, “We promised to stand by sports when we had to postpone fans returning. We are doing just that by delivering another £300 million on top of existing business support schemes,”
“Britain is a sports powerhouse, and this Government will do everything we can to help our precious sports and clubs make it through Covid.” he continued.
Hopefully, this funding can help brunt the burden of the pandemic so we can continue to enjoy motorsports race around our favorite tracks for decades to come.